Michael McDowell’s proposed privacy bill is a grievous assault on press freedom. This insidious, repressive piece of legislation will restrict free speech and diminish the public’s right to know. It threatens the fabric of democracy by making it easier for the wealthy and powerful to evade legitimate media scrutiny, thereby facilitating — if not actively encouraging — the covert corruption that has blighted this country for decades.

Until recently, Mr McDowell shared the view of many expert legal observers that Irish law’s existing privacy protections are more than adequate. The Progressive Democrat justice minister seems to have surrendered to demands for media censorship from some Fianna Fail cabinet colleagues, several of whom nurse grudges against a press they believe is insufficiently deferential.

The introduction of a disproportionate and unnecessary privacy law as part of an overdue reform of our antiquated and penal libel laws is an attempt to reduce by stealth the ability of journalists to hold centres of power to account. To make matters worse, the bill itself is ineptly drafted.

Under the proposals, the day-to-day working of investigative journalism would be severely inhibited. Actions that will be deemed an illegal breach of privacy include any form of surveillance, use of material obtained by surveillance or disclosure of personal documents. The term “surveillance” is not adequately defined, and could be interpreted to include not only eavesdropping but any kind of “watching”.

Harassment by reporters is also outlawed but, once again, the terminology is dangerously fuzzy. Individuals will be able to take privacy actions if they feel “distressed” following inquiries by journalists, a proposition so vague that it could effectively criminalise robust questioning.

One of the legislation’s most chilling features is the extraordinary power it confers on claimants to stop stories in advance by injunction. The defence of “newsgathering” envisaged by the bill is hopelessly ill-defined. Its provisions would allow the subjects of investigation to have journalists summoned before court to justify the truth and public importance of a story while they are still trying to corroborate it. At the point where reporters have begun to verify their facts, they would have little by way of verification to show.

Nowhere in the bill is there any mention of a “public interest” defence. In recent years, however, the press has played a crucial role in helping illuminate dark corners of Irish society through essential exposés about the nefarious activities of influential figures in politics, business and the church. Any invasions of privacy committed during this process were clearly in the public interest.

Mr McDowell’s privacy bill is a godsend for the many among the rich and powerful who wish to see an end to this era of revelation, openness and modernisation. It is a charter for people with much to hide and good reason to hide it.

Ironically, the bill was included with a package of measures for press regulation that contains many progressive elements. The new defamation bill and the proposals for an independent, self-regulating press council are welcome.

The defamation legislation is a model of 21st-century media law, removing longstanding anomalies but also addressing complex new issues related to online publication. By deciding against a statutory press council, meanwhile, Mr McDowell has taken the wise option, putting it up to the newspaper industry to enforce its own high standards and be seen to do so.

A self-regulated press council is preferable to an unworkable new law that will take Ireland down the French road. Readers will be afforded a formal, swift and free complaints procedure, itself a further safeguard against unwarranted press intrusion into private lives. It is a more than adequate quid pro quo for the planned reforms in the defamation law.

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